How Mini Case Studies Can Help Boost Your SEO

Looking for some ideas on how to add good, useful content to your web site while improving search engine optimization (SEO)? Mini case studies might be an
ideal solution, especially if you're short on time.

What is a Mini Case Study?

Mini case studies provide a quick summary about a problem a client experienced, the solution to that problem (how they used your product or service), the
results that were achieved, and the benefits the client has experienced. They are different from testimonials, which include customer comments about the
virtues of a product or service but don't usually tell the full story.

The main difference between mini case studies and regular case studies is the length of the copy and the writing style. Regular case studies are several
paragraphs long, and they can take considerable effort to write. At first glance, the lengthy paragraphs of a regular case study may look like a daunting read
for web site visitors who are just looking for quick information on what you offer. Mini case studies, on the other hand, summarize the details of the
customer's story, and present them in a much shorter, punchier, web-friendly format.

How Does SEO Fit In with Mini Case Studies?

Here are a few ways mini case studies can improve your site's SEO:

Keywords: Mini case studies provide a quick and relatively easy way to include keyword phrases into the content of your web pages. Unlike
testimonials, you write the mini case study, so you can decide which keywords get included in the story, and where and how often they appear.

Useful Content: Beyond adding keyword-rich content and pages to your web site, which helps your site rank higher on search engines, mini case studies can
provide helpful information to potential clients on how your product or service has been used to solve problems that others may also be experiencing. Good
content encourages visitors to return.

Cross-linking Opportunities: Linking to your client's web site – and getting them to link back to yours – increases your link popularity (the number of
people linking to your site), which in turn affects your site's search ranking (where your site appears in the results pages of searches). In a mini case
study, you could link your client's name and/or web URL to the client's web site and then ask the client to reciprocate with a link to your own web site. You
could also go one step further and offer to provide a mini case study for your client's or supplier's web site.

Tips for Writing Mini Case Studies for SEO Purposes:

Keep mini case studies to only a few sentences; use a sentence or two to describe each of the following: client problem, solution, result, and benefit.

Include keywords in headings and subheadings, and then use them once or twice in the main body of the case study.

A good rule of thumb is to make your keyword count about five per cent of your total word count – but do not worry too much about the exact number of
keywords. If you use specific language to tell the customer's story, including brand names, locations, product names, and words that describe your service,
and avoid writing in general or generic terms, the keywords will take care of themselves.

Since mini case studies are so short, you can include multiple customer stories on one web page. This gives you ample opportunity to add keyword phrases
to your page in a natural way.

Sample Mini Case Studies

Here are a few examples of how to incorporate keyword phrases into mini case studies:

Keyword phrase: "Home stager in Toronto"

John Brown tried to sell his Toronto house for nine months before looking for a home stager in Toronto. He found Acme Home Staging through its web site,
acmehomestaging.com. Acme staged his home and he got his quick sale! John received four offers, and sold the house in three days for $10,000 above the asking
price, which is unusual in this Toronto neighbourhood – all due to the professional home staging advice from Acme Home Staging.

Keyword phrase: "Toronto package shipping company"

Online clothing boutique Forward Fashions was unhappy with the shipping company it was using; orders were arriving late and the shipping rates were
ridiculously high. In her search for a new Toronto package shipping company, owner Julie Ward came across ABC Shipping Company's interactive web site,
abcshipping.com, which provides package tracking. ABC provided Forward Fashions with a special small package shipping rate and expedited freight services to
ensure packages got to their destinations when expected. Forward Fashions' overall shipping costs are now much lower, and they are retaining 80 percent more
customers now that orders consistently arrive on time.